Brazil World Cup Blog

We’re not going to talk about that goal.

Great as it was, incomparable as it was, it’s frustrating to me that most of the articles eulogizing Carlos Alberto have focused almost exclusively on that one goal.  Here and there you might see a few more words spared for his club career, or a brief summary of his coaching CV, but there’s been very little discussion about the player himself.  Maybe a passing reference to being the first attacking fullback (which we already know is untrue), but that’s all.

That’s unfortunate, because Carlos Alberto was far more than just that goal.  Even if he himself was happy to accept it as his defining moment, O Capitão was no mere flash in the pan.  No mere comet blazing briefly across the sky; herald, perhaps, of the greatest display of attacking football in history.  No mere exclamation point, popping up only at the end to bang in the greatest goal by the greatest team in the greatest World Cup.  Even if to the rest of the world it might have seemed that way.

No, Carlos Alberto was much more than that. Continue reading

With the “Seleção Legends” series, I want to look back on some of the greats of Brazilian football. It’s similar to my “Seleção Classics” series, except it will focus on individual players rather than matches. To kick things off, let’s take a look at one of the most fascinating players in Seleção history: Rivaldo. Continue reading